Fôs' Almir

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In early versions of the legendarium, Fôs' Almir (the Bath of Flame),[1] also called Faskalan, Faskala-númen (the Bath of the Setting Sun) and Tanyasalpë (the bowl of fire),[2] was a purifying bath into which Túrin and Nienóri entered.[3][1]

The bath was fashioned as a great basin with golden floor and walls of polished bronze. An "arcade of golden pillars topped with fires engirdled it" and Yavanna "set a great and nameless spell around it, so that therein was poured the most of the waters of the fruit of the noon and it became a bath of fire".[2]

Etymology[edit | edit source]

Fôs' Almir is a Gnomish name, meaning "Galmir's bath, i.e. Sun's bath".[4]

Tanyasalpë is a Qenya name, containing tanya ("fire")[5] and salpa "bowl".[6]

Other versions of the legendarium[edit | edit source]

A rejected name used in earlier texts for the bath was Fauri.[3]

Fôs' Almir appears to also have been used by Tolkien as a name for the Western Sea.[4]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "II. Turambar and the Foalókë", pp. 115-6
  2. 2.0 2.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "VIII. The Tale of the Sun and Moon", p. 187
  3. 3.0 3.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "II. Turambar and the Foalókë": "Notes and Commentary", p. 138 (§2)
  4. 4.0 4.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, "I-Lam na-Ngoldathon: The Grammar and Lexicon of the Gnomish Tongue", in Parma Eldalamberon XI (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, and Patrick H. Wynne), p. 12
  5. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Sí Qente Feanor and Other Elvish Writings", in Parma Eldalamberon XV (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, and Bill Welden), p. 9 (note 6)
  6. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "Appendix: Names in the Lost Tales – Part II", p. 266